Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1887-12-18

ton Of the manuscript differed from the
pages which he had just been reading.
Signs Of IN ovsrwrought brain showed
themselves here and there as the outline Of
the play approached its end. The hand
writing grew worse and verse. Some of
the longer sentences were left unfinished.
In the exchange of dialogue questions and
answers were not always attributed respec-
lively to the right speaker. At certain in
teryals the writer's falling intelligence
seemed to recover itself for awhile, only to
relapse again and to lose the thread Of the
narrative more hopelessly than ever.
After reading one or two of the more CO.
herent passages Henry reeoiled from the
ever darkening horror of the story. He
closed the manuscript. heart sick and ex-
hausted, and threw himself on his bed to
rest. The door opened almost at the same
moment. Lord Montbarry entered the
room.
I'VE have Just returned from the opera"
he said, and we nave heard the news OF
that miserable woman's death. They say
you spoke to her in her last moments, and
I want to hear how'll happened"
"You shall hear how it happened"
Henry answered; and more than thai.
You are now the head Of the family.
Stephen; and / feel bound, in the petition,
which Expresses me, to leave you to decide
what ought to be done"
With those Introductory words, he told
his brother how the countess play had
come into his hands. Read the first few
pages" he said, al am anxious to know
whether the same impression is produced
on both of u.s."
Before Lord Montbarry had got half way
through the first act, he stopped, and look
ed at his brother. What does she mean
by bOasting of this as her own invention"
he asked. WAS she too crazy to remem-
Der that these things really happene??"
This was enough for Henry; the same i'm
preston bad been produced on both Of
them. "YOu will do as you please" he
said. But if you will be guided by me,
spare yourself the reading OF those pages to
come, which describe our brother terrible
expiration of his heartless marriage"
"Have you read it all, Henry?"
mot all. / shrunk from reading some
of the latter part Of it. Neither you nor /
saw much of our elder brother after w left
school; and for my part, l felt, and never
scrupled to express my feeling, that he be-
hayed UNANIMOUSLY to Agnes. When l read
that unconscious confession Of the murder
u conspiracy to which he fell a victim, /
remembered, with something like remorse,
that the same mother bore Us. have felt
for him tonight, what / am ashamed to
think l never felt for him before"
Lord Montbarry took his brothers hand.
"You are a good fellow, Henry" he
said; 'but are you quite sure that you
have not been needlessly distressing your
self? Because some Of this crazy creatures
writings accidentally tells what we know
to be the truth, does it follow that all the
rest is to be relied on to the end?'
There is no possible doubt OF it,"
Henry replied.
mo possible doubt?" his brother re-
peated. ~ shall go on with my reading,
Henry-and see what justification there
may be for that confident conclusion of
yours"
He read on steadily until he had reached
the conclusion of the second act. Then he
looked up.
"Do you really believe that the mutt
lated remains which you discovered this
morning are the remains of u brother?"
he asked. "Aud do you believe it on such
evidence as this?"
Henry answered silently By a sign in the
affirmative.
Lord Montbarry checked himself-evi-
IDENTIFY on the point Of entering an indig
nant protest.
"You acknowledge that you have not
Don't be childish, Henry. If you persist
in pinning your faith on such stuff as this
the least you can do is to make yourself
thoroughly acquainted with it. VIII you
read the third act? No? Then 1 shall
read it to you.
He turned to the third act, and ran over
those frsgmentary passages which were
clearly enough expressed to be Ineligible
to the mind of a stranger.
Here is o scene in the vaults OF the
palace" he began. The victim OF the
conspiracy is sleeping on his miserable bed;
and the baron and the countess are con
sidering the position in which they stand.
The countess as well as I can makei it out
has raised the money that is wanted by
borrowing on the security of her Jewels at
Frankfort; and the courier up stairs is still
declared by the doctor to have a chance Of
recovery. What are the conspirators to do
if the man does recover? The cautious
baron suggests setting the prisoner free.
If he ventures to appeal to the law it is
easy to declare that he is subjected to in
- I.l...1- - - Ill L.. --.. -u.coa.a -
witness. On the other hand, if the courier
dies, how is the sequestrated and unknown
noblemsn to be put out of the way? Pass
lively, by letting him starve in his prison?
No; the baron is q man of refined tastes;
he dislikes needless cruelty. The active
policy remains. Say, assassination by the
knife of a hired bravo? The baron objects
to trusting On ~accomplice; also to spending
money on any one but himself. Shall they
drop their prisoner into the canal? She
declines to trust Whitewater will show
him on the, surface. Shall they set his bed
on fire? An excellent idea; but the smoke
might be seen. No; poisoning is no doubt
an easier death than he deserves, but there
is really no other safe wav ont oft than to
poison him. Is it possible, Henry, that
you believe this consultation really took
place."
Henry made no reply. The succession
of questions that had Just been read to
him exactly followed the succession of the
dreams that had terrified Mrs. Norbury on
the two nights which she had passed at the
hotel. 1t was useless to point out this CO.
incidence to his brother. He only said,
go on"
Lord Montbarry turned the pages until
he came to the next ineligible passage,
Here" he proceeded, 'is a double
scene on the stage, so far as / can under
stand the sketch of it. The doctor is up
stairs, innoeently writing the certificate of
my lords decease, by the dead courier's
bedside. Down in the vault the baron
stands by the corpse of the murdered lord,
preparing the strong chemical acids which
are to reduce it to q heap of ashes. Surely,
it is not worth while to trouble ourselves
with dsciphering such melodramstic hor-
rors as these. Let us get on! let us get on"
He turned the leaves again; attempted
vainly to discover the meaning of the con-
fused scenes that followed. On the last
page but one he found the last ineligible